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Re: CLARIFICATION (Stadlen, Kunin, Hochard)
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R.S.Gwynn [ to JM's ...the pun on "tub," following Alexander Pope's observation and a reference to Swift's own position as a clergyman."...] Shade alludes, not to Pope's "Zembla" (apparently a reference to Nova Zembla as an ultima Thule in "An Essay on Man"), but to "old" Zembla, meaning that he is referring to Kinbote's Zembla....a small (a very small) nod to Kinbote ...It is hard for a poet to get some persistent voices out of his mind when he is trying to concentrate on other things...That said, Swift's "tub" may well be both a boat and a pulpit, but it is assuredly not a bathtub! ...Shade ranging outward imaginatively from "the country of my cheek" ... Maybe he...sometimes likes to stick his big toe up the tap ("now a silent liner docks")..."
JM : I happened on Swift because I remembered the "Tale of a Tub" and was checking on Pope's reference to Zembla: by chance and the google. Brian Boyd mentions Swift's "Nova Zembla" in his book on Pale Fire ( The Magic of Artistic Discovery) & it's probably worth checking into!
For you "Old Zembla," doesn't point to Swift's "New Zembla" whereas Shade is referring to Kinbote's Zembla, because he couldn't get rid of his neighbor's persistent stories. I'd never have imagined this could happen to a poet while he is engaged in his creation, a disturbing contagion that is somehow similar to Kinbote's, when he complains against the noise and lights of a neighboring "merry-go-round" - only to insert it topsyturvily in his foreword.
Now it's another possibility to consider, besides having the "silent liner" as Shade's big toe reaching for the tap, should we feel the need to explore Shade's images to be able to access his growing madness, as you and Gary see it. taking places right under our eyes.
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JM : I happened on Swift because I remembered the "Tale of a Tub" and was checking on Pope's reference to Zembla: by chance and the google. Brian Boyd mentions Swift's "Nova Zembla" in his book on Pale Fire ( The Magic of Artistic Discovery) & it's probably worth checking into!
For you "Old Zembla," doesn't point to Swift's "New Zembla" whereas Shade is referring to Kinbote's Zembla, because he couldn't get rid of his neighbor's persistent stories. I'd never have imagined this could happen to a poet while he is engaged in his creation, a disturbing contagion that is somehow similar to Kinbote's, when he complains against the noise and lights of a neighboring "merry-go-round" - only to insert it topsyturvily in his foreword.
Now it's another possibility to consider, besides having the "silent liner" as Shade's big toe reaching for the tap, should we feel the need to explore Shade's images to be able to access his growing madness, as you and Gary see it. taking places right under our eyes.
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
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Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
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